Certain specialized aircraft are designed to be light weight and skid equipped. These aircraft are typically unmanned, remotely controlled and are useful or potentially useful in a variety of applications. In a surveillance application, for example, to conduct aerial patrols along a border, or along a coast of a nation or state, or in remote areas to act as a substitute for a “cell tower” for cellular communications. It is desirable that these aircraft have the capability to remain aloft for long periods and traverse a significant area during that time. Accordingly, the aircraft carry a relatively large quantity of fuel to enable long endurance, whether deployed at high or low altitude.
Typically, these aircraft present a large external surface area (they tend to have very large wings relative to fuselage length) and that factor combined with light weight makes these craft vulnerable to cross winds. On the ground, the lack of wheeled landing gear, light weight and large surface area of the aircraft also combine to pose special issues in the launch, ground transport and recovery of these aircraft. These issues relate primarily to the capability to compensate for cross winds, to maintain control during takeoff, and to rapidly remove the aircraft from the runway after landing. In addition, there are often handling issues relating to the transport of the aircraft to and from a hanger or storage area. All these requirements exceed the capability of a simple wheeled support cart onto which the aircraft may be mounted while it is on the ground.
In the 1980's the Boeing Condor program used a ground cart to transport very large wingspan skid equipped aircraft while these were on the ground. This cart had limited capabilities and lacked several desirable features. It could perform some steering, but did not include significant cross wind-counteracting capability and required additional support equipment, such as a crane, to lift the aircraft onto or off the cart. The Condor cart system was basic and also lacked other features that might be desirable; for example, it did not provide for additional cooling or ventilation of the aircraft interior.
In addition a cart was developed in the 1995-6 period that could be used to launch a solar powered, light weight, unmanned air vehicle. This cart was essentially an automobile chassis platform (a Volkswagen Beetle) stripped down and outfitted with a vertical mast about 15 ft. (4.5 m) tall with a platform at its upper end on which the aircraft was balanced and mounted. This design is very limited in that the aircraft must be hoisted onto the platform so that the cart can be used to launch it.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a ground cart for use with skid equipped aircraft that assists in ground-based operations including launch and recovery. The cart should have several features, including ease of loading the aircraft to the cart, a capability to compensate for cross winds during launch and ground maneuvers, and the cart should also have options to provide additional services, like cabin environmental control. In addition, it is desirable that the cart be coupled to the aircraft by a simple robust mechanism and that it can be uncoupled automatically from the aircraft, as needed. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.